Client Profile

Issue

A bank that receives its employee benefit plan audit from MHM* also utilized an external service provider to prepare its retirement plan’s financial statements to be filed with the SEC and DOL. The bank wasn’t happy with that service provider and abruptly terminated the arrangement. It received a two-week extension from the SEC to submit its various regulatory filings, including the employee benefit plan audit. To make matters complicated, the MHM senior manager working on the audit engagement went out on maternity leave earlier than expected, and her back-up had her honeymoon scheduled during the two weeks that the audit had to be completed.

Solution

The MHM team pivoted quickly to bridge the gap between the absences on the MHM engagement team and the bank’s new deadlines. Through collaboration with MHM’s national EBP practice, the bank had an experienced employee benefit plan audit manager to work on the engagement the next day. Because of MHM’s streamlined audit approach, information transfer among members of the MHM engagement team happened seamlessly, and no extra efforts were needed from the bank to get the new audit team up-to-speed.

Outcome

With the MHM team’s ability to work remotely from four different states, the bank had access to the flexibility it needed to meet its new deadlines, address gaps with its service provider team, and file its financial statements on time, avoiding any noncompliance with securities law.